H.ROCK.CITY & del campo scrubs

after Ramadan i took a trip up north to visit some friends that moved up there. i was so excited to have this opp to visit them in their new stomping grounds. i decided to fly up there on the local airline as it was relatively cheap and it saved a whole lot of time traveling up there! cool! check out the footage from the trip...

this is a zoomed in shot of the view from their balcony...not bad, aye? it is a somewhat new city in relation to the age of the buildings as many of the homes and buildings were wiped out in an earthquake in the last century. it was lovely with the backdrop of the sea. it was very hilly and mountainous and gorgeous!

after my friend picked me up from the airport, we met her husband and her other son to go grab some lunch. since we were so close to the sea, i wanted to try out the fish. it was outstanding to say the least. i tried the sole. yummy.

then we walked around the city some going to this amazing park/walking area/soccer complex. had to get this shot for my mom:) it was just soooo beautiful! the rock behind me here is the other side of the rock that i pictured in the first picture of this blog post. we were walking along this newly made walking area/park that they had finished before the king's annual visit.

i was sooo impressed! the soccer fields were really nice and the whole place was just so clean and nicely designed. the boys enjoyed getting to run around a bit. one of the boys and i raced up and down this walkway...he was a fierce competitor:)we made it back to their house and decided to check out these building sets i brought for the boys. i learned that there were actually instructions well into my assembly and had to backtrack a bit. they were great helpers!then we took another walk around their 'hood to their local park. there were so many parks in this city. it was incredible! such great views everywhere, too!!the next day we went to their househelper's home for some couscous. it was really yummy and such a treat to be guests in her family's home. the Samsonator loved the chickens and had to restrain from playing with them (hence the hands behind his back) as he had been found before out in the chicken's coop. it was cute.
the family's home was just outside the city and was perched at the base of this nice hill/mount. we went exploring and roamed around their hill/mount to catch some pretty incredible views! later we found a turtle. the boys loved it!

then we took the scenic drive back to their home, which was crazy cause the inclines and delcines were intense. they have this sweet 4x4, too. it was totally fun! check out the beautiful pic below. my friends said it reminded them a lot of Hawaii. cool!here is a shot of the whole rock and the city. it was so beautiful and just a lot of fun to explore a different part of the country. i was so stoked to find tortillas here! i bought loads of them:)my friend is a nurse and helps with clinics out in the countryside, so i got to join her one day. we woke up before dawn and enjoyed a fabulous drive out into the countryside. the drive was about 4 hours to get to the clinic where we met other nurses and then the drive continued further into the countryside...the views were outstanding along the way! it was such a joy to be able to take in all these gorgeous views. wow.
in the pic above you can see some lines cut into the mountainside...that was the road we came in on to the depths of the countryside. it was totally fun to be 4x4in' it! i taught the local folks how to say yee-haw! i think it was another hour/hour and a half to the actual village in which we worked. so, overall...about 5 or 5 1/2 hours one way. road trip fun!


i was put to work doing whatever i could to help. i worked as a pharmacist putting pills into baggies to hand out, worked the powerpoint that the women watched while waiting, took the ladies' height and weight before being seen, etc. it was a great experience! i loved being able to be there with my friend and meeting some really incredible women.
above is the waiting room. it was busy to say the least. there were local doctors and nurses that were giving immunizations and then our crew was giving ultrasounds to women that were pregnant. it was quite a full day!


here was the room we were working in and the mobile ultrasound machine. cool! we saw just under 40 women in maybe 8 hours or less. it was a neat system and was so interesting to hear the women's stories. cool.

we got a tea and snack break up on top of the clinic. here is my friend and i posing with the mountains in the background. beautiful! the second tallest mountain in the country is there behind us. i was so grateful to have this special time with my friend and to be able to see her work!

super september

so, this month included Ramadan, visits, fun, the end of Ramadan, and more! I hope you enjoy the ride as much as I did!I was so excited when I found out a friend and her husband would be around for a visit. I had gone to see them a couple times in France, so was soo excited to have them in the place in which I live. we definitely took in as much as we could for the short time they were here. loads of shopping and eating fun. they were so excited to grub down at the American chain places we have here. wahoo! R and I above taking it all in downtown!then it was like a mini-reunion later. it was sooo great to see sweet friends and get to be all together. really. and what better place to meet up than Roman ruins?by September Ramadan was in full gear. I had the privilege to go visit a friend and learn how to make one of my favorites eats here: breeuwats. no, it isn't close to bratwurst, but it sure does taste good! it is kind of like an Arab version of egg rolls. above is my friend and I with all the goodies.above here is the assembly line: thin, thin dough cut into strips, cooked chicken and crushed almonds and an egg wash. so, you take the chicken and almond mixture and put it toward one end of the strip. then you simply wrap up the mix in the thin dough to make a triangle. if there is need for the egg wash to help secure the end, then paste it together with the egg wash. then you bake or deep fry and enjoy!! they are sooo yummy!there is a tramway being built throughout the city and it has caused many headaches in traffic jams. the buses seem to be rerouted regularly, so it keeps folks on their toes. this from our balcony on any average morning or afternoon. imagine the horns blarring that come along with a photo like this!I met up with a friend at McDonald's one afternoon to plan for our weekly high school youth meeting time. first, we chose to meet at McD's as all other cafe's were closed due to Ramadan. well, this particular day also happened to be a special day during Ramadan--the Night of Power. so, McD's provided a great show with a French-speaking Ronald! there was all kinds of fun music and cool activities for the kiddos.then later in the evening we went to a nearby mosque to check out the scene. lots of families go out and kids get sweets, wear fun clothes, and have their pictures taken. above this family was trying to keep this little guy upright for the photo. it was too cute!

below is mio with the unfinished tower of an old, old mosque-site. our 'hood is named after this tower.as I mentioned above, I am helping out with a youth group here and it has been fun. we got to do a service project of stuffing over 300 backpacks with pens and notebooks to later be handed out to kids. they were super fast at packing the bags and turned into a race against time. fun! later, the end of Ramadan came with the small feast they have to celebrate the end of the month-long sun-up to sun-down fast. i was invited to a new friend's house for the occasion. of course tea and cookies were served!
we later had this yummy dish that has tiny bits of pasta in this huge pile with sugar, cinnamon, and raisins. it is such an interesting combination of flavors, but is fantastic! also, the mixture on the small dish to the lower left is super-good. it is like a mix of eggplant, peppers, onions, and goodness. yummy! we also had a tajine and fruit later. I was stuffed!

thankfully the music got cranked up and we started dancin' all around. it was ladies' only and loads of fun! one gal even brought her sweet jingling belt to make the dance party that much better! this dance move was done to the song, "Hero".

I loved that our hostesses were totally into! then the hair started flying all around. it was quite the way to end a fun and memorable month! thanks for staying tuned and please know I am working to get this updated little by little. thanks guys!

august to goodness

so, i guess better late than never, right? i sincerely apologize for the extreme delay in my updates. please forgive me. i hope you enjoy the next few updates and i look forward to hearing from you!a day at the beach. i was excited to get to be with my friend, Ai, at the beach some this summer. she is always a blast and is definitely the friend that I have known the longest since I ame here over a year and a half ago. I can't believe how quickly the time as rolled by! wow! it was fun this day at the beach as her sister came, too. I was excited to have time with both of them!later we all went to this interesting place along the coast. it was like old volcanic rock all around and these plastic chair and table cafe's. quite funny. I was even more suprised to find that it also doubled as a hookah outlet. the sister smoked it, which was interesting to me and the whole afternoon was full of some new experiences. fun! above is our group of ladies with FZ on the hookah!it is always fun to have visitors and take them around the city. it was great to have a crew up from the metro capital for a few days. i think we were definitely saying CHEESE! nice grills, huh?I also love going to this fun rooftop cafe' in the old city. at night it allows for super-great people watching. this is a hot night in the market. sellers and buyers all looking to give or get a good deal. these sellers have their wares on tarps to allow themselves to be mobile. oftentimes police will show up to bust up the illegal selling. it can be like a game of cat and mouse.for one young guy's birthday he opted for his activity to be paintball!! yes, we played paintball in northern Africa! it was so much fun. I only played once in the States, so I was totally a novice among some seasoned pros. I loved this course as it was compact with loads of places to hide. we had a blast! above is me going in for the kill. ha!once again we enjoyed our All Out Eat Out in preparation for Ramadan. for a week we ate one meal out at a favorite place around town. meals ranged from couscous to burgers to sushi. it was yummy and I gave it two thumbs up!thankfully this summer wasn't devestatingly hot, but it was still rather warm. the days were (and still are) full of sunshine. this is by far one of my favorite views around the city. i love this river-walk area looking over to the old, old city. the boats really helped make this day's shot even better. over the far left you can see the edge of a carnival! yes, it came back, but in a new location! I kept going on and on about the carnival to my friends until we finally went. it was a blast of course! we rode all the adult rides. I love the night lights!we have a new pottery shop that has opened up in the old city. I love going in there because I find something new everytime. I really like this plate. the colors and the design are so fabulous. incredible!then came my birthday! I was house-sitting for some friends, so I woke up to make some yummy muffins and enjoyed them out on there nice patio. I also was so happy to open up cherished cards and gifts from family and friends. thanks so much for helping make my day so special! what was my activity of choice for my birthday you ask? well, check it out... surfing of course!! it was so fun to be out on the waves. I had a horrible day getting up on the board, but who cares! I had a blast for real. it was fun all around I believe. thanks to Sherry for the gift of surfing:)since there were loads of birthdays during the summer and lots of cake, I opted for brownies. yummy! happy birthday to mio! it was such a neat day to be with friends. yeah!


as my birthday feast with my peeps in the city, I asked for a fry fest. oh my. it was so delicious. timing was hard for everything, but we managed to snack our way through the piles of fried goodness, including: mushrooms, tempura veggies, mozzerella, chicken, onion rings, and fries. we even tried for deep fried candy bars, but better luck next time for us. yeah, just like home!

later, for another gal's birthday we had a fun slumber party that included seriously amazing food prepared by the birthday girl, movies, and a stamping party! it was so fun to help with it and i enjoyed seeing everyone's creative side. a great, great month to say the least.

to top it all off were some sweet jet-ski races they had on the river one night. I was with Ai and she thought I was funny for being so interested. we came upon a race that included all chicks. cool!

viva Madrid!

well, another fun trip was had and this time the destination was Madrid! i was excited to get the opportunity to go and visit this city. i had heard great things about it and now join them in raving about the city. it was a super easy city to navigate (for the most part:) and it had loads of great stores, eats, and options for things to do. i would give it two thumbs up for sure. we flew in and made it to our hotel in the late afternoon, which gave us some time the first night to scope things out. our hotel was right in the heart of the city, so it served us well. below you can see the puerta del sol plaza at night. there was a lot of construction going on in the plaza, so it wasn't picture perfect, but was neat to see. it was great to be out at night and honestly not feel like a total outsider. there were loads of tourists in the area in which we stayed, so it was kind of normal feeling. it was funny, too, as i actually changed at the airport to maximize my summer wardrobe time in Madrid. we dined out at the fabulous Burger King the first night and i honestly found myself taken a bit off guard when i was reading the menu on the board to order and on the drink list found the option: cerveza. it made me laugh.

the next morning we found the Dunkin' Donuts (after i had taken us the wrong way) and i was sooooo pleased! it was absolutely fabulous. the coffee was great, the donuts were greater. yummy!


after breakfast we decided to do a bit of shopping since we were so close to a nice shopping area. i was happy to visit the H&M and found some sweet deals for a Euro--a pair of shoes, a scarf, and a wallet! i am all about summer sales! :) then we decided to trek out to the Madrid zoo. it was funny as we didn't really pay attention while we were on the metro and found out the hard way that the line was under construction. we finally made it to the stop we needed and then were a little confused on how to get to the zoo. the map portrayed the zoo as being quite a bit away from the metro stop, so we assumed we needed to take a bus. well, little did we know that it was totally walkable from the stop. thankfully this family started walking through this forest of sorts and we followed their lead. above ground at the metro stop we got this great view of the skyline...

so, no visit to a zoo/acquarium is complete without a visit to the dolphin show, right?! it was totally fun and we laughed after hearing the first song come on...it was Micheal Jackson...all of the show was done to Micheal Jackson songs. it was quite amusing. the dolphins rocked!

their acquarium was quite fun. it was definitely packed out and you heard Nemo references all over the place:) i was happy to find this home of shrimps!

there were sharks, turtles, fish, everything! it was great and loads of fun. i enjoyed watching the kiddos, too.

we made it back outside and found the bears awake. they had been napping when we passed by the first time. they were hungry for a snack, and sadly folks did not listen to the signs and proceeded to throw snacks to them. bummer.
later we went to eat at Tony Roma's. when we went inside to try and get a table we were told that there was a problem and to come back in 20 minutes or an hour. we found the wait time options to be funny and decided to check out the Starbucks just down the way. i had my cafe' au lait on ice! delicious!

the adventure ended with one last run to Dunkin' Donuts. on my way there I looked up and saw this bear statue in the Puerta del Sol plaza. i had seen this image all over the city and wondered where it actually was. i was so happy to find in my last hour or so in the city! this seems to be the Madrid symbol.

this window display belonged to a dance studio right across the street from our hotel. i thought it was a fun display and captured some cultural dress. it was a very great trip and so nice. hope your travels take you to new and exciting places!